Gratitude, Day 3...

Friday, April 12, 2013

Today was easier still to see the brighter side of life, since I woke feeling really positive instead of the usual - mentally listing everything I had to do during the day, the things I'd need from the supermarket, the people I wanted to find time to visit... Today was different, because I woke thinking about the things I COULD do, rather than the things I HAD to do.

So, other than the really positive beginning to my day, I have so many things to be thankful for today. Amongst them...

... for the first time in ages, when dressing this morning, I actually felt lighter, noticed that there was no straining to do up my previously tight clothing.

... a longer than usual dog walk, because I was enjoying the exercise, with not even a hint of the once usual severe pain in my lower joints.

... feeling so blessed to be pain free that I decided to do some seated knee lifts, followed by a session of wall pushups. Still no pain.

... not having to decide what I wanted to eat today. I enjoyed yesterday's lunch of a poached egg on top of baby spinach and tomatoes, with a sprinkling of Moroccan seasoning, followed by an apple, so much that I decided to have the same today. Dinner will be another serving of the delicious Tamarind Lentils I discovered on Spark Recipes, accompanied by a warmed Mediterranean herb wrap, with a pear for dessert.

... whilst watering my vegetable pots, finding amongst the tomatoes which have refused to ripen, three perfect, if slightly smaller than the first crop, soon-to-be-red tomatoes. They are now ripening on my kitchen window. By late this afternoon there were a couple more beginning to change colour.

I'm now realizing that all these things, or similar, have happened on many other days prior to my joining Spark People, but I was just so bogged down in the negativity of my life they passed unnoticed and unappreciated. I guess what was missing all this time was an 'attitude of gratitude'.

No matter how hard it may be, promise yourself that you will find just one small reason to be happy each day. Just an unexpected smile from someone you may not even know can turn a negative day into a positive. Or, better still, why not be that person who smiles at someone else who is looking as if they are feeling down?